Roselle’s POV
“Good morning, my sweet Rose.”
I heard his voice first as I slowly drifted in and out of sleep.
Every part of my body begged me to keep sleeping, but another part of my mind remembered everything I needed to accomplish today, forcing me to slowly pull myself awake.
I opened my eyes, blinking several times as I tried to adjust to the sunlight streaming through the slight opening in the curtains.
But the light wasn’t what fully woke me.
It was the face blocking it.
Silas was leaning over me, his face coming into full view and completely blocking the sunlight from reaching my eyes.
For a moment, I was startled.
Then I remembered.
I had told him he could sleep in the room again.
After our conversation in the dining hall yesterday, I had gone straight to the office and buried myself in the documents.
I had intended to go through everything before today, but there had been far more information than I expected.
By the time I finished reviewing the money-laundering operations, my eyes were burning, and sleep had been threatening to drag me under.
Eventually, I had given up and rushed back to the room.
I barely remembered anything after that.
I hadn’t even paid much attention to Silas when I returned.
Now that I was looking at him, however, I couldn’t help wondering whether he had already been in the room when I came back last night.
No matter how hard I searched my memory, I couldn’t remember seeing him nor could I remember paying any attention.
“Why are you staring at my face like that?” Silas asked lightly.
“Don’t tell me you’re currently regretting all your life choices that led you to this moment. That would be sad.”
I slowly sat up, resting my back against the headboard while he settled on the other side of the bed.
“You might be right.” I said
He raised an eyebrow.
“I think I should start asking myself where it all went wrong,” I continued.
“I had a beautiful life that wasn’t filled with so many worries. Now I have to read until my eyes hurt so badly that walking back to the room feels like a chore.” I was only half-joking.
Then another thought occurred to me.
“Maybe it would be wiser to have a bed placed in my office so I wouldn’t have to come back to the room every night.” I looked at him seriously.
“What do you think?”
Silas stared at me for a moment.
“You know I was only joking about the regrets, right?”
“I know.” I nodded thoughtfully.
“But now that I’ve actually considered it, I think it would be wise to spend some nights in the office instead of coming back here.”
“Well, if you’re getting a bed, I think you should get one large enough for two people.” I frowned.
“Who said anything about you?” I asked.
“I’m talking about me. Why are you including yourself?”
“In case you haven’t figured it out by now, Rose, I’m your husband.” His expression was completely serious.
“And I intend to do right by you. That includes sleeping in an office with you if that’s what you want.” His response left me slightly stunned.
“Why?” The question escaped my mouth before I could stop it.
I could understand him trying to make small talk with me.
I could even understand why he might want to sleep beside me.
I could even understand trying to have sex with me.
But I couldn’t understand why he was so determined to make things right with me.
That part, I couldn’t understand.
“Why what?” He tilted his head slightly.
“The bigger question isn’t why I’m acting this way.
It should be, why shouldn’t I?” I remained silent as he continued “As the wife of a Belladonna, you’re second only to me,” he continued.
“If I don’t do right by you, then who else would I do right by?”
His voice became more serious.
“Besides, the First Rule of the Belladonna family is Family First. And as things stand, you, Jasmine, and Jeremy are my family.” He looked directly at me.
“You come before even myself. In the same way, Jeremy, Jasmine and I would come before anything else for you.”
I nodded slowly.
“That makes more sense.” His explanation was logical, and I couldn’t argue with it.
“So this is simply you fulfilling the family rule.” I said it as though I had finally found the missing piece of a puzzle.
Silas gave me a strange look, but I ignored it.
If this was simply a matter of Belladonna family principles, then perhaps there was nothing more to question.
“Maybe.” His answer was vague enough that I almost questioned him about it, but before I could dwell on his words, he spoke again.
“You said yesterday that you had a lot planned for today. Your plan was to go through the documents so you could properly decide on your next course of action. Tell me about it.” His sudden change of subject caught me by surprise.
“Well, I intended to go through all the documents yesterday before making any proper plans,” I explained.
“But who knew that going through the money-laundering operations alone would take me until late at night?” I sighed.
“Now that I’ve only reviewed that one area, I can already see the urgent things that need to be handled. So I’ve had to come up with a new plan. I need to deal with the money-laundering business first before moving on to the others.”
Silas chuckled at the helplessness in my voice.
“Don’t be too discouraged.
The money-laundering business was one of the DeLucas’ main sources of income, so the other businesses shouldn’t be nearly as tedious.
They certainly shouldn’t keep you awake until late at night.” He paused “At least, I can assure you of that.” He added Visit g.com for the full chapter.
It wasn’t until he finished speaking that I realized something.
Since I had woken up, we had simply been talking casually.
As though we had known each other for years.
It was strange.
But the strangest part wasn’t that I could talk so easily with him.
It was the fact that I actually liked it.
I didn’t feel the awkwardness I normally experienced when speaking to someone I barely knew.
There was no need to carefully consider every word before letting it leave my mouth.
Talking to Silas felt strangely familiar.
Almost like talking to an old acquaintance.
And somehow, I found myself enjoying it.
“You can take things slowly,” Silas continued, pulling me from my thoughts.
“You obviously can’t figure everything out from the beginning all by yourself, can you?” He paused.
“Like I said yesterday, Sylvester will explain more things to you. And since you’re planning to handle the money-laundering business today, that means you’ll be leaving the estate.”
He looked at me.
“You can take Sylvester with you. He’ll be a great help.”
“I already planned on doing that before you pointed it out.” I gave him a knowing look.
“If not Sylvester, who else could I ask for help? I certainly can’t expect you to abandon your own work just to follow me around and do mine.” I paused.
“And besides, if I ask you to help me with everything, how else am I supposed to prove to the Commission that I’m worthy of being part of the Belladonna business?”
Silas stared at me for a moment.
Then, without warning, he moved closer.
Before I could react, he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on my left cheek.
I froze.
For a brief moment, I thought he might go further.
His gaze dropped to my lips, and an unexpected anticipation stirred inside me.
But instead of going further, he pulled away.
“Then I suppose I have to leave you to it,” he said in a lower voice as he continued staring at my lips with reluctance in his eyes.
“I wouldn’t want to delay you any longer and take up too much of your precious time.” He stood from the bed and began walking toward the door.
I remained still, watching him leave.
Just before he disappeared from my sight, he glanced back.
“I’ll see you when you get back.” Then he walked out.
A moment later, I heard the bedroom door open and close.
His footsteps gradually faded down the hallway.
And I was left sitting there, staring at the door with nothing but the lingering anticipation of a kiss that never came.